‘The barristers challenging the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates have today been granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court declined permission to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s finding that the principle of independence of the advocate was not infringed by QASA, saying it did not have a real prospect of success.’

‘Where something goes badly wrong at a hearing it is sometimes necessary for the advocate who was present to explain events as part of the appeal process. It has become customary in immigration proceedings for the advocate to have to write a witness statement and therefore, because he or she is by doing so giving evidence, to stand down from the case and hand over to a colleague. Upper Tribunal judges have seemed insistent that an advocate can barely breath a word of what might have happened at the previous hearing without spontaneously combusting.’

‘Constantly changing the regulatory regime for legal services is costly and lawyers need time to let the current regime bed in, the Bar Council chairman has said in a speech to regulators and prominent members of the legal sector.’

‘The Bar Standards Board (BSB) and Ilex Professional Standards (IPS) have today called on barristers’ and chartered legal executives’ experiences and expertise to help the regulators establish the skills and knowledge required to work effectively and competently in the Youth Justice System.’

‘Mr Justice Green, chairman of the Advocacy Training Council, has condemned the lack of a “level playing field” for publicly funded advocates, which is leading to the practice of “selling litigation rights”.’

‘Lord Judge, the former Lord Chief Justice, has warned criminal law barristers that the “old-fashioned chambers structures must be reconsidered” and they must not dismiss alternative business structures (ABSs) “out of hand”.’

‘“The Times They Are A-Changing” wrote Bob Dylan in 1963. Is public access (PA) a reinvention of the wheel or an opportunity for all lawyers? The work that barristers can now do is utterly different from a decade ago. The growth of McKenzie friends shows the legal landscape has been affected by financial constrictions and widening consumer choice. Solicitors have higher rights of audience and employed barristers can be advocates. Professionals from both sides wonder whether there is still a real difference. The answer currently is that there remain significant differences though the edges are becoming blurred. This article will not examine those differences or likely future of the professions. Instead it offers an insight to how barristers, especially young barristers willing to embrace change, can help their future while continuing to work with solicitors.’

‘The legal regulators should have full independence, and ‘approved regulator’ role of the Bar Council, Law Society and other professional bodies should be abolished, the chair of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) argued yesterday.’

‘The Court of Appeal has unanimously rejected the appeal of criminal barristers arguing that QASA (the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates) was unlawful. It was argued that the scheme compromised the independence of advocates and that the decision on the part of the Legal Services Board (LSB) to approve it was unlawful. All grounds were quashed and implementation is now due to take place some eight years after the original proposals were tabled.’

‘Victims will have the right to tell the court how they have been affected by a crime as part of a major set of reforms announced by the Justice Secretary. They will also receive better information and support with the introduction of a nationwide Victims’ Information Service, making it easier for victims by establishing a single source of information and help.’

‘The Bar Council, which represents barristers in England and Wales, has today published the third edition of its annual report, ‘Representing the Bar’, which focuses on the organisation’s representational activities and performance against key strategic aims for 2013-14.’

‘On 7 May 2014 the report by Sir Bill Jeffrey on “Independent criminal advocacy in England and Wales”, the first of the triumvirate of reports into the state of the criminal justice system, was issued. It is a mixed bag. Many lawyers were hoping for more, specifically for ammunition in their battle with the MoJ, but that point is largely ducked. Whilst there is a lot that the (independent) bar can take comfort, and perhaps even pride in, make no mistake – however it is sugar-coated, this is not a homage to the Bar, or a plea to maintain the status quo.’

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